What a week.....................

My feet don`t seem to have touched the ground for a week; its been pretty manic. 

I have been wriggling like a jellyfish to get out of having a damn hysterectomy which, if you remember, was going to be a Christerectomy in December! But...I can wriggle no longer; it is looking imminent. The reason I am holding off is the fact that I feel so well - not even slightly ill, and it all seems a bit over the top to me.

As a last resort I bounded into my lady doctor`s office armed with a host of print outs from the internet stating as to why I could get around it without surgery .. but I  was instantly shot down in flames as I had researched all the wrong information! So this Friday is the final meeting with the surgeon before a date is set. All I can say is  -ouch!

Thursday this week will see me with my cardiologist for my annual check up  - something which I'm not really looking forward to either. It is a simple stamina test.  I have to be wired up and ride an exercise bike - no problem there.....but I have to be topless! Yes, you heard right...topless! It is absolutely mortifying to say the least. I am quite sure this poor man has seen many, many boobs in the past, but I am still not keen on his viewing MINE as I pedal a bike! Save me PLEASE! I have looked at all possibilities; putting my shirt back on but the wires prevent this. Perhaps try a pashmina casually draped this time. The French are very liberated with their naked bodies so it must be my English prudish side coming to the fore. Moving on from all things medical.....

Three days were spent at a huge attic auction sale at a local manoir with Miss Frou Frou in tow, my daughter who trades as "cafe-de-paris" on Ebay. Hosts and hosts of old textiles and costumes that haven`t seen the light of day since the 1800s. It was the first textile sale on such a large scale that she had ben to, so I had to sit on her hands as she started to get " auction fever".

 With each box of treasures that you win the porter brings it over to you  - and it wasn't long before we started to stack up quite a huge pile. Frou Frou did bring the auction to a stand still though when the auctioneer looked across and caught her trying on a pair of Victorian frilly knee-length bloomers ( which she had just bought) over her jeans just for the fun of it!

We buy very different things so our bidding didn`t affect each other until a huge box of treasures was held up with a frilly pink tulle underskirt inside. We almost had a scuffle. I tried to pull rank and she tried the " but you have much more stock than me" card. In the end we were outbid by an outrageous Paris dealer in the furriest of fur coats, so then we both changed to " well, I didn`t really want it anyway" to console ourselves!

Both of our cars were packed to bursting on each day and last night as the sale closed we thought we might have to go back in the morning to collect the rest. As a last resort we emptied the remaining boxes and tucked the textiles into as many crevices and tiny spaces as we could. That explains why, even as I type this,  my glove compartment still has some linen torchon cloths lying in it!!

SO............. now I just have to sort it all out, launder some and get it listed.

And my favourite find of the week? A delicieux Art Nouveau print that once adorned a screen ( see pic at top and below). But..............

...it is closely followed by this wonderful old couture box with it`s rose-covered silk dress, bag and hat still inside.

As I have said you will find Miss Frou Frou on Ebay as "cafe-de-paris" - that is if she ever manages to dig her way out of her car! You will find her blog  here....

http://froufrous-paris.blogspot.fr/


Finally.......there has been no sound from the foxes so I think the vixen has moved her cubs away - thank heavens as the hunters are out in force!! Thankfully the season closes on February 28th so they will be gone until next year - 12 months in which I hope their guns rust and their wellington boots spring leaks!

Catching up as we speak, mes belles
xxxxxx